


Moonlight Sonata

by Kalira



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Melancholy, Moonlight, Music, NejiHina Week, NejiHina Week 2020, No Dialogue, Open to Interpretation, Piano, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27586595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira
Summary: A shared song in the shining silver light of the moon.
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Hyuuga Neji
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18
Collections: Kalira's NejiHina Week Stories (2020)





	Moonlight Sonata

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [NejiHina Week 2020](https://nejihinata.tumblr.com/post/633513960386215936), Day 1: Unsaid
> 
> A bit of an unusual one for me perhaps, but I was finishing up my story for Day 4 and this mental image flitted into my mind and refused to leave. . .
> 
> (I chose the title first, but I put on [Moonlight Sonata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4591dCHe_sE) while I was writing, this version/video is particularly pretty to watch as well.)

Hinata didn’t know why she had woken, deep in the calm, quiet night. She made her way to the kitchen for a glass of water, feeling not . . . _restless_ , precisely, but unable to remain in her room, lying in bed.

She sipped the cool water, then stilled, listening. She found herself caught by a soft, barely-there melody carried on the still air of the house. She abandoned her glass of water on the counter and followed it, padding silently on the smooth floorboards, dimly lit by the moonlight filtering through the shoji. There was no other sound, no stirring in the house as she passed through.

The door was already open when she reached it, but Hinata paused at the threshold.

Though there were no lamps lit, the shoji were all open to let the moonlight stream through undimmed, silvering the room. Neji was seated at the piano, elegant fingers skimming over the keys in an easy pattern, back and forth.

Hinata watched for a while, then slipped into the room, hoping she wouldn’t be disturbing Neji.

He looked up, startling, as Hinata reached the piano. She thought there might be the faintest flush rising in his cheeks, and blinked, ducking her head. Neji didn’t stop playing, however, even as he watched her almost . . . warily?

Hinata trailed her fingers over the piano lightly, meeting Neji’s eyes. He still didn’t stop playing, only held her gaze for a long moment more, then looked away, focusing on his hands.

Rounding the piano and walking up the other side, Hinata paused by the end of the keys and took a breath. She sang softly, keeping her voice low enough that the piano almost drowned it out. Hinata had to fight to keep her breathing steady as she remembered her mother’s voice, learning this song about flight and freedom from her.

It was among the strongest memories Hinata had of her mother as anything more than a silent shape beside or behind her father, few as they were.

Neji’s playing hadn’t faltered, but Hinata realised distantly that he was staring at her again.

She closed her eyes, her voice trembling across a few words. This song lingered, too, among the _last_ memories of her mother - her voice thin and shaky as she sang, her fingers in Hinata’s hair, unable even to rise from her futon.

Hinata lost herself in the song instead, fitting it to the melody of Neji’s playing, dreaming about the life it outlined - free-flying birds, governed only by the rhythms of the world and uncaged. . .

Finishing the final verse with a long, wavering note, Hinata bowed her head.

The music continued only a little after she stopped singing, stretching out a few breathless moments and then falling into silence.

Hinata took a hitching breath, lifting her head again and looking at Neji. He sat at the piano, not looking at her but at his hands, now still on the keys. His brow was bare, as it never was in daylight hours, and his hair was loose; it fell around his shoulders and half-hid his face.

Hinata hesitated, then took a step, trailing her fingers over the piano. She made her way cautiously over to the bench where Neji still sat, walking behind him and then taking a seat at his left side. Lifting his head a fraction, Neji looked at her but didn’t tense, and Hinata slid a little closer, settling her head tentatively on his shoulder.

Neji shifted and she tensed, but he only curled an arm around her, stretching across her back with his hand spread over her left hip. The quiet wrapped around them, Neji trailing the fingers of his free hand over the keys again without pressing any of them.

Hinata sighed, closing her eyes, and let her right hand rest on his nearer thigh, relaxing against him.


End file.
